


The Darkest Timeline

by KirbyPaint



Series: Tales of Eldrigar [8]
Category: Pathfinder (Roleplaying Game)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-06
Updated: 2016-02-06
Packaged: 2018-05-18 13:04:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5929444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KirbyPaint/pseuds/KirbyPaint
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An example of the worst of the worst...</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Darkest Timeline

**Author's Note:**

> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

Yuki sat still, letter in hand, for over an hour. _I’d always feared this day,_ she thought, _but I never thought it would come to pass._ Her eyes read and re-read the words she’d already memorized, as if she was hoping they’d change on the next pass.

“I have to go,” she muttered, and she slammed the paper on the table, along with a quick hand-written note to Vanessa explaining where she’d gone. In fifteen minutes, she’d gathered her best armor and her greatsword, locked the door, and headed out.

 

* * *

 

 

Vanessa never liked walking into a quiet house – that meant only two things. One: Yuki was angry enough with her to not even greet her at the door. That only happened once, but still, who could ever want that? Or two: Yuki was literally so ill that she couldn’t get up, and that was very unlikely for a woman of her constitution.

But as Vanessa searched the house, she saw neither hide nor hair of Yuki, and her worst fear was confirmed when she searched the closet to find a gaping lack of Yuki’s signature greatsword.

_She’s left me,_ she thought, panicked, and she slowly ambled over to the kitchen to take a drink of water, alcohol, anything to stop her throat from being so tight. She downed the sake in one gulp, and as she poured another glass, she spotted a strange piece of paper on the table. On it was two things – one, a typed telegram from Equus, and two, in Yuki’s writing, a note saying she’d left and would be back as soon as possible.

When Vanessa read the note, her heart leapt into her throat, but her fears of Yuki leaving her had washed away. Instead, a larger fear crept in, one she hadn’t felt in years.

“She’s… gonna die,” she whispered to her shaking hands.

 

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

**PO BOX HARUMI SNOW**

 

**YUKI YOU HAVE TO COME STOP HE’S GONE I CAN’T BRING HIM BACK STOP HE’S DESTROYING EVERYTHING STOP YOU’RE OUR LAST CHANCE TO END THIS STOP**

 

**TENNA**

 

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

Yuki stood aboard the deck of the ship, steadfast as ever. She put aside all thoughts of what she had to do and tried to focus on the brother she once had, instead of the monster that consumed him. Their adventures (at least the nice parts), her visits to the Dragon Empire, her teaching his child in the art of greatsword wielding… anything to take her mind off of things.

“Aye, ya go’ a lot on yer mind, huh?” the Dwarven captain asked. “Ah recognize that look – yer goin’ somewhere yeh aren’ comin’ back from.”

“I intend to return,” Yuki responded curtly.

“Tha’s no’ what Ah mean, lass,” the captain responded, patting Yuki’s back as affectionately as possible. She walked back before Yuki could respond, barking off orders to her strange crew. Yuki pondered the captain’s words while staring out at the endless expanse of water. She breathed in a huge gulp of salty sea air and sighed.

“I don’t want to do this,” she whispered, and the wind took her words.

 

* * *

 

Upon arrival in Equus, Yuki was mobbed by a rather large group of bystanders.

“You’re here to stop the Ravager, aren’t you?”

“Is it really her? The Banished Princess?”

“Nah, she’s just a super-wizard!”

“No, it’s totally her!”

And thanks to the graces of Tenna, Yuki was pulled from the masses before they could overwhelm her. Within five minutes the two were free from all crowds, discussing their business in a rented room in some random inn.

“I wouldn’t ask this if there was any other way, Yuki,” Tenna whimpered morosely, “but he’s just… it’s not _him_ , anymore, it’s just the beast now. You know he’d want this, if he could ask for it.”

“I know,” she responded, “but that doesn’t make me any more eager to do this. You’re asking me to execute my brother, Tenna. My last known sibling, and you want me to put my sword through his chest.”

The other woman gasped, “I’m asking you to slaughter the beast, and I’m asking you to put my husband, the father of our children, to rest. Please, I know you can do this. You’re a Dragon Warrior, _this is what you do_. Please,” she gasped, fighting off tears.

Yuki stood to full height and wrenched her sword from its sheath.

“Take me to him.”

 

* * *

 

A massive roar resounded through the lands as Ryota the Ravager laid waste to yet another town. His tremendous flames gouged through buildings and thoroughly incinerated forests, and his roars caused all life to tremble in fear.

A portal opened not far from the devastation, and from it walked Yuki, Tenna, and Julian. He’d heard of the horrors but couldn’t believe it to be true until Tenna messaged him, and thanks to his knowledge of powerful magic, and Tenna’s own demonic heritage, they’d managed to gate through Hell to the mountains near Ryu-Teikoku.

“Thank you Julian. I know this can’t have been easy for you, and I owe you one.”

“I’ll collect it when you come back,” he said, to which Yuki tersely nodded. With a flourish, he was gone once more, with of course Tenna’s assistance.

“Yuki… if you can’t-”

Yuki interrupted Tenna, “I can.” She walked for a good mile before finding decent enough ground to confront Ryota on, then yelled as loudly and as powerfully as she could,

“Brother! Come, face me if you dare!” and for a moment she thought he hadn’t heard her. All was still. Calm. It was the eerie calmness that confirmed his arrival, and in seconds he was before her, in full Dragonic glory.

“Have you anything to say for yourself?” she asked, not knowing if she’d even get a response.

“ _Death… is… a… gift… mine…_ ” the dragon growled, and he lunged for Yuki, breathing flames as he did so. She barely escaped this, dodging his dash and deflecting the flames with her sword and armor, but it was a lucky dodge and she hadn’t expected such incredible speed. He struck again and again, trying to barrage her with his limbs, but Yuki had learned some new things in her many years and his strikes did nothing. She returned a few of her own but it was futile to try to strike at his scales with anything but a perfect strike.

She tried to maneuver herself to his underbelly, where the scales were thinner, but he wasn’t so foolish, and batted her away with his wings or tail. He nearly impaled her twice but once she dodged, and the next she took a fair hit to the gut, but would only bruise. She breathed fire of her own into her sword and made a few more strikes, but they were as ineffective as the first ones.

_I need to fight dirty,_ she realized, as no fair fight with a dragon would ever be truly fair.

“Our father would be ashamed,” she yelled, as she braced to receive his anger. He roared, and once again charged her in his anger. This time, she was ready, and as his claws soared at her, outstretched, she rolled under him, leading into an expert strike, angled perfectly to slice him open.

The slice did the trick, as he roared in agony, and she felt the blood pour out from his body. His blood mixed with her sweat and coated her face in a grimy memory she’d never wash away. He leaned back, preparing to fly away, but his injury combined with her carefully crafted battle plan and relative level-headedness led her to gain another victory on him, in the form of slashing through his left wing. She’d severed it nearly at the joint, and it dangled uselessly on his shoulder until falling off under its own weight. He screamed in pain, a roar that would be heard for miles, before cauterizing his wounds and railing into Yuki with all he had. She defended well, but not before taking a few injuries of her own, losing the use of one leg and some fingers he’d managed to bite off after a very close call.

Bleeding and limping, she stood facing her enemy, but she knew she could still take him down. She gave a few wild slashes, cutting nowhere near him, and fell to the ground, gasping for air. She lay down, eyes half-open, as the mad dragon reared back, preparing to snap her up and devour her. At least, that’s what his body language said. According to her estimates, she had about a half a second to make the strike she needed before she’d be chomped in half or cooked alive.

Three…

Two…

One…

He pounced on her again, exactly as she’d hoped, and with impossible speed, she jabbed her sword into the roof of his mouth, right through his optic nerves, and she pulled the sword free as he reared back, blind and in pain. She only hoped the pain would suffice to confuse his dragon senses, as she knew his blindness would only be a temporary setback. It did enough to him for her to unleash another flurry of insults to distract him further.

“You foolish lizard, you’ve caused nothing but chaos! The Ryota I knew would have slain this _monster_ in cold blood!”

He roared in disapproval and made another desperate swipe at Yuki, leaving too much space between his claws, and causing him to lose a few toes in the process.

“How could I ever be proud of you, you fucking beast? How could I have ever loved such a cruel monster-”

Her words had evidently gone too far, for suddenly she’d found herself flat on her back, with her sword tossed away some meters from her injured hands, and the dragon lying on top of her.

“ _I… am… the… solution… You are the monster,_ ” he growled, and Yuki could have sworn she heard her brother’s voice alongside the dragon’s. She felt in that moment that she had failed, that even though the beast was crippled, he still reigned free through the lands, and she paused, thinking of everyone who she was about to leave behind.

He leaned in, so his snout was mere inches from Yuki’s face, and opened his mouth for a fire blast. In one brief moment of inspiration and passionate desperation, she reached her arms up, grabbed his front fangs, and as he breathed his fire, she breathed her own, putting every last bit of energy she had behind it. The flames blazed through the air, splitting to the left and right and burning her arms through her armor, but her screams only added to the flames coming from her own mouth. Her fire glowed a bright red, a pure red only known to have been breathed by one other Warrior, and her fire was enough to hold off even the dragon’s. His eyes widened in fear and shock, and he desperately tried to bite Yuki through her strength, but he was too weak and she was too strong. He whined and prepared another blast but she was gone before he could fire, having fetched her sword.

She felt the words of long ago stir within her, and decided it was time to unleash upon the beast his final sentence.

“For too long now you have tormented these lands, Ryota the Ravager, and now the world will have its revenge!”

She struck him with a mighty set of blows, severing his other wing, and taking out all four of his hamstrings. He was grounded from the skies, and then kneeling on the soaked and bloodied grass as he fought for the ability to stand. He couldn’t, and he lay gasping for air. As Yuki turned to deal the final blow, she saw him shifting.

At his state of weakness his Dragonic form was unsustainable, but he had just barely enough life left to shift back to human. Something she’d thought impossible, but it seemed he’d had just enough of the right stressors to pull his humanity from the dragon’s clutches.

Yuki knelt near her brother and rolled him over, leaning him up against herself so his gasping breaths could come easier. His body was ravaged but she could feel his tattered spirit glowing brighter than it had since before he’d gone mad.

“You’re okay now, Ryota,” she whispered into his ear. His blind eyes stared into blank space as he responded.

“No. This is it for me. I can’t,” he coughed, hacking up a mouthful of blood, “I can’t go there again. You have to end it.”

“I can save you!” she cried almost desperately, but even as she said the words she knew they were untrue. His spirit was quickly healing and she could feel the red dragon in him fighting to be freed again.

“We both… know… that’s not true,” he wheezed, and Yuki turned him so she could clean the blood from his face. “Do it,” he nodded, “and tell them… I’m sorry… and I love-” and he yelled as his back bent unnaturally, a sign that he was due to change. Yuki froze – she was still sure that she could save him, that it didn’t have to come to this – but as he stood once more, and as his Dragonic form threatened to break forth, she let out a mighty cry and charged her sword up through his chest, shattering the ribs and cleaving straight through his most vital organ. He shuddered, the change stopping, and smiled down at her as he collapsed upon her blade, and she felt his Dragonic presence fade from this world.

He slumped against her body, a dead weight only supported by her own damaged arms and her blade, and she cried out into the forest a cry of pure sorrow. A mile away, Tenna heard the yell, and knew it was over. Her ring was empty, and that could only mean Yuki’d done the impossible. Still, she hung her head and wept as grief overcame her.

Continents away, their four daughters each felt their own sense of loss, though they could not explain it at the time.

 

* * *

 

All the doctors in the Empire couldn’t fix Yuki’s burns, and her arms had been rendered nearly useless from the burns and strain. Her left one had to be amputated just past the elbow due to the extensive charring. Her leg was re-set and healed as well, but the damage was done, leaving her with a permanent limp. She’d suffered other damage to various parts of her body, but everything else physical would heal with time, according to the physicians.

The boat ride home was so similar to her first boating trip that she couldn’t help but wonder if she was doomed to a lifetime of love and loss. An endless cycle of fighting and warring and death – didn’t she leave that all when she left the Empire?

_You can never leave,_ a voice said in her head. She simply sat in the barrack, running her hand across her sword. Her wonderful, perfect weapon that she could and would never wield again. Even if she could hold it, it was the weapon that took her brother’s life, and so would never see the field of battle again. She felt as though she held Death’s scythe, but that all the stories had it wrong, that it was this black-and-crimson weapon that truly ended lives. She suddenly felt ill, and hid the blade under her bed, lying down under the blanket to try and escape her thoughts.

 

* * *

 

 

Vanessa met her at the docks, and nearly screamed at what she saw left of her wife. Burned, scarred, and slightly more limbless, she rushed Yuki in a fevered hug and pulled her to their home. Neither said anything until the door was closed, and Vanessa turned to face Yuki.

“He’s gone,” she whimpered, breaking down in Vanessa’s arms, and Vanessa held her until she fell asleep, mourning the losses she faced. Kaede stayed in her room, staring out the window in silent vigil until the sun went down and up again.

When Vanessa awoke, Yuki wasn’t in her arms, but she heard something outside and moved to investigate it. Yuki had dug a trench in the ground the length of her sword and placed it into the hole.

“Are you burying it? It needs to be deeper,” she said gently, noting the sword’s grave was only a few inches deep.

“No,” was Yuki’s only response, and she called upon the primal flames within herself, and with one hand she coated the sword in blazing red fire. She focused the flames in key spots, and soon Vanessa heard the breaking of the metal within. The sword glowed white-hot, and appeared to be magma in the dirt. After ten minutes of continuous flame, the sword began to melt, and within fifteen, it was a puddle of mixed obsidian and dragon steel. Acting quickly, Yuki took a piece of steel and mixed the metal into the dirt, and soon had a slurry of dirty metal. The mixture eventually hardened, and was dispersed enough that she could take all the metals and dirt and put it into a container.

“This weapon will take no more lives,” she said, once she had all the metal into the urn. “I’m sending it out to sea, where it will sink, and be at rest forever.” She used her fire to securely melt the lid onto the body, and the sword fragments were securely locked in the metal container. She started walking to the ocean, and Vanessa and Kaede joined her, and she boarded the next fishing ship out. When she returned, her hand was empty, and she looked… not peaceful, but as if she could get there someday.

“Kaede,” she said, “I have taught you everything I can. You are free to do what you wish with yourself. I will no longer instruct anyone in fighting, but I hope, should you need to, that my skills were sufficient.”

“Oba, you were a wonderful teacher, and aunt, and I’m so honored that I got to spend these years with you.”

They hugged, and Kaede enveloped Vanessa in a hug shortly after.

“Don’t forget to visit,” she choked out, and Kaede laughed. “Keep my tuba safe, and I promise I’ll come back soon. Vanessa smiled and Yuki nodded, and Kaede boarded the boat.

 

**Author's Note:**

> dont kill me


End file.
